Today there were no tours booked, because they all required activity beyond my capability, so we decided to visit the town, first shuttled across the floating jetty by bus and then a short walk along the main streets, market stalls, informal street sellers (including the poor men who wore sandwich boards advertising medicine for fungal toes, including graphic pictures ughhh). There were undeveloped infrastructure smells hitting us straight away (sewage basically). the walk was therefore limited and without a coffee stop.
We lunched back on the ship and then returned to our cabin. I was so relieved we missed the sudden change in the weather. First I saw the almost black clouds in the distance, then there was the strong wind, just like yesterday afternoon.
Our balcony doors were closed and we started to watch the rain come in, sometimes horizontal rain hit the balcony doors, otherwise it was just the heaviest downpour I'd ever seen. Then the fun began. First a little trickle onto the carpet near the balcony door, then a puddle, then without exaggeration a deluge right cross the floor, over our feet, under the couch, under the bed and towards the door. We've neve moved so quickly. Cases and art work first onto the bed, then everything else we'd left on the floor. How lucky we were to be in the cabin when it happened. For a couple of hours we were "displaced" so graced Costa at Tiffany on deck 8, afternoon tea in the conservatory and finally a sail away party at the Riviera pool.
Then we went back to have a look at our cabin. And a big up to P&O for bringing 10's of beach towels, water vacuums and industrial blowers. Finally they made a decision to take out the carpet completely and offered us another cabin temporarily. We love our cabin, so we asked if we could stay, and they seemed relieved that we were so "cool" but to be fair, they did everything they could in such a quick, kind and professional way, and such natural disasters aren't a cause for complaint, so all is well. It just means I am wearing my slippers as there's no soft carpet.
By dinner we were back to normal. Tonight we shared a table in the Peninsular restaurant with the Brexiteers Keith and June whom we had met at lunch in the first week, so to avoid conflict we kept our conversations on travelogue and personal matters. Keith is the man I advised to get a Puttnam pillow to help his neck and we shared hints and tips for dealing with our ageing, degenerating spines. What a lovely man. Extremely funny in a very dry way and a joy to share stories with.
We were eating until 9 p.m. and missed the Motown show, but we'd had enough excitement for the day anyway.
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